Logo

News Briefs: Askin Leaving Tribune Entertainment

May 8, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Dick Askin, president and CEO of Tribune Entertainment is leaving the company effective May 17, Tribune announced Friday. Following Mr. Askin’s departure, John Reardon, president and CEO of Tribune Broadcasting, will oversee Tribune Entertainment. Mr. Askin, who also serves as chairman and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, oversaw all development, production and distribution activities for Tribune.



Colbert Clip Pulled From Web

Late last week YouTube.com pulled a clip of Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert’s roast of the press and the president at the April 29 White House Correspondents Association’s annual dinner because the video violated C-SPAN’s copyright. The clip generated more than 1 million views on video-sharing sites such as YouTube, Break.com and Heavy.com before it was pulled. A notice on YouTube’s site read: “The videos were not removed due to the content or any political bias. They were removed at the request of C-SPAN, who claims to be the copyright owner.” YouTube is getting more serious about copyright. The Web site has added a notice to its home page containing tips on how to ensure videos being posted don’t violate copyright.



Schleiff to Depart Court TV

Court TV CEO Henry Schleiff is expected to leave the network after it is acquired by Time Warner, executives at the network said last Wednesday. Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons confirmed during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call that Time Warner is working with Liberty Media to complete a deal for full ownership of Court TV. Liberty owns the 50 percent of the network that Time Warner doesn’t already own. Mr. Schleiff did not return requests for comment.



Economics Broadcaster Rukeyser Dies at 73

Louis Rukeyser, television’s Renaissance man of economics for more than three decades, died last Tuesday at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 73. He was diagnosed with a rare bone marrow cancer in 2004. Mr. Rukeyser was the host of “Wall $treet Week With Louis Rukeyser” on public broadcasting stations for 32 years. He resigned in 2002 and jumped over to CNBC. His CNBC show ended in 2004 due to his illness.



Did Affiliate Spill the Beans About CW Launch Date?

Pssst. This didn’t come from The CW, but The CW plans to launch Sept. 18, the start date of the 2006-07 prime-time broadcast season-at least, according to one of the new network’s affiliates. In a release issued Wednesday, Pappas Telecasting said Walla Walla, Wash., station KAZW-TV will add The CW to the station’s programming lineup “beginning September 18.” The new network has not announced an official launch date-so far the network only has said that it is scheduled to debut in September. A CW spokesman said he could not confirm the Sept. 18 launch date. In addition, The CW’s distribution commitments surpassed 90 percent of the TV homes in the country last week. Eight stations in the Sinclair Broadcast Group signed affiliation agreements, including six Sinclair-owned WB affiliates: KMWB-TV in Minneapolis, Minn., (the 15th-largest market in the country); WLFL-TV in Raleigh-Durham (and Fayetteville), N.C. (29); WNAB-TV in Nashville, Tenn. (30); WVTV-TV in Milwaukee, Wis. (33); WTTO-TV in Birmingham-Tuscaloosa, Ala. (40); and KOCB-TV in Oklahoma City, Okla. (45); plus Sinclair-operated WNUV-TV in Baltimore, Md. (24). Also part of the deal is independent KFBT-TV in Las Vegas (48).



MyNetworkTV Signs 12 More Affiliates

Fox’s MyNetworkTV signed 12 more affiliates last week, including four owned by Pegasus Broadcast Television, raising the network’s clearances to 121 markets representing nearly 71 percent of the TV homes in the country. The Pegasus stations include WB-affiliated WILF-TV in Wilkes-Barre-Scranton, Pa. (the 54th-largest market in the country); UPN affiliate WPME-TV in Portland-Auburn, Maine (74); and digital channels operated by Fox-affiliated WDSI-TV in Chattanooga, Tenn. (86) and CBS-affiliated WGFL-TV in Gainesville, Fla. (162). Two of the deals were struck in Alaska with Fireweed Communications, for low-power station K17HC in Juneau (207) and WB affiliate KYES-TV in Anchorage (155).